Too Late, My Mates

The bells rang at dusk, and my heart sank before I knew why. Nobody rings the Silverfang gate bells for small things. I was in the east hall hanging banners for the Moon Festival, something I still did myself after three years as Luna. Then the mate bonds pulled tight in my chest, one, two, three, all in a panic. Kael. Dorian. Ronan. They were running to the gate. Sable? I asked my wolf. Her, she growled. Something about her is wrong. I dropped the banner and ran. The courtyard was packed. Warriors, elders, even the pups stood in a ring, and in the middle of it was a woman in a white cloak. She had long gold hair and soft grey eyes, and she looked like she had never been hurt a day in her life. I knew her from the portrait Kael kept hidden in his study. Isolde Marrow. The first love. The one who vanished five years ago, the night before her mating ceremony with all three of them. "Kael," she whispered, and her voice cracked. "I'm home." I watched the Alpha of Silverfang, a man who once stared down a rogue army, fall apart. His hands shook. Dorian covered his mouth. Ronan stood frozen, his eyes wet. And I stood at the edge of the crowd, in a dress covered in dust, and nobody looked at me. Kael crossed the courtyard and pulled her into his arms. He had never held me like that. Not once, in three years. They took her to the main hall. I followed, because I was Luna, and that was my place. The elders gathered. The fire was lit. Isolde sat in the chair beside Kael's, my chair, and nobody said a word about it. "Tell us everything," Kael said. His voice was rough. "Where were you? Who took you?" Isolde looked down at her hands. She let the silence grow before she spoke, and I noticed that. "Nobody took me," she said. "I left because I was afraid." "Afraid of what?" Dorian asked. She looked at me. Only for a second, but long enough that every head in the room turned to follow her eyes. "Of her." The hall went silent. I laughed, because it was the only thing I could do. "Me? I was nineteen. I had never even met you." "Wren." Kael's voice cut like a blade. "Let her speak." I shut my mouth. He had never spoken to me like that before. Isolde wiped her eyes. "She sent me a letter. It said if I did not leave, my family would pay. I was young and scared, and I ran. I'm so sorry. I should have been braver." "There was no letter," I said. "I never wrote anything." "Then how would she know about it?" Dorian asked, and when he looked at me, it was not anger I saw. It was doubt. That was worse. "Because she is lying!" My voice rang across the hall. Several elders flinched. Isolde lowered her head. "I don't blame her for being angry," she whispered. "I would be too." And I watched, helpless, as all three of my mates moved closer to her instead of me. That night I stood on the balcony of our bedroom. Our bedroom, though I was alone in it. Kael had not come to bed. Down in the courtyard, lanterns still burned in the guest wing, where they had put Isolde in the best room in the house. The door creaked. Ronan stood there, tired and pale. "Can we talk?" My heart leapt, stupidly. "Yes." He came and stood beside me. For a while, we said nothing. "Do you believe her?" I asked at last. He did not answer right away, and that hurt more than a yes would have. "She was ours, Wren. Before you," he said quietly. "We thought she was dead. And now she's back, and she's hurt, and I can't just turn my back on her." "I'm not asking you to turn your back on her. I'm asking you to believe me." "I want to." "But?" "But I can't. Not yet." He rubbed his face. "I need time." I looked at the man who used to leave wildflowers on my pillow when he thought I was asleep. "Three years, Ronan. I stood beside you for three years. Does that count for nothing?" "It counts," he said. But he did not look at me when he said it. He left. I stayed on the balcony until the stars went pale, and somewhere in that cold night, something inside me started to c***k. By morning, the whole pack house had shifted. I walked into the dining hall for breakfast and stopped at the door. My place at the long table, the Luna's place beside Kael, was taken. Isolde sat there, smiling, with a plate of honey cakes in front of her. Dorian was pouring her tea. Ronan was cutting her bread. Three years, and not one of them had ever done that for me. "Good morning, Wren," Isolde said warmly. "I hope you don't mind. Kael insisted I sit here. I told him it was too soon, but he wouldn't listen." Everyone looked at me. The warriors, the maids, the elders. They were waiting to see what I would do. I could have made a scene. I could have dragged her out of that chair by her pretty gold hair. But I had been Luna for three years. I knew what a scene would cost. "Of course," I said. "Please, sit." I took a seat at the far end of the table. Nobody stopped me. Kael lifted his head. He had barely looked at me since yesterday, but now his dark green eyes met mine for one heartbeat. "Isolde will take over the Luna's duties for now," he said. "Until she is settled." My fork stopped halfway to my mouth. "For now," I repeated. "It's temporary." "For how long?" "Until I say otherwise." He turned away and went back to his plate, as if that was the end of the matter. As if I had not just been told, in front of the entire pack, that I was no longer needed. Isolde touched his arm. "Kael, don't be hard on her," she said softly. "She's been through a lot. It's natural she'd feel threatened." Threatened. Heat rushed up my neck. "I'm not threatened. I'm insulted." "Wren," Dorian said sharply. "Enough." I stared at him. Dorian, who made me tea when I was sick. Dorian, who always made me laugh at midnight in the kitchen. He would not meet my eyes. "You can't be serious," I said. "She's been here one day," he said. "Give her a chance." "And me? When do I get a chance?" No one answered. Isolde looked down at her plate. A single tear rolled down her cheek, perfectly timed, perfectly sad. "Please," she whispered. "I don't want to cause trouble. I'll go if it's easier." "No," all three of them said at once. It was so fast, so loud, so sure, that it shocked the whole room. And in that moment, I understood something that made my blood run cold. They had never moved that quickly for me. I walked out of the dining hall before I could break something. The corridors blurred. My chest felt tight, like it was full of stones. Wren, Sable whispered. Breathe. They believed her. Without proof. Without question. I know. My wolf's voice was low and fierce. I do not like her scent. What do you mean? Sweet. Too sweet. Like flowers that grow over something dead. I almost laughed. Then I saw the door of the Luna's office. It was open. I stopped. Inside, two maids were carrying out boxes. My books. My papers. My mother's silver brush. Everything I owned that sat on that desk was being packed away. "What are you doing?" I asked. The maids froze. One of them, a young girl named Tilly, went pale. "Luna... the Alpha ordered it. Miss Isolde is to use this office now." "I see." "I'm so sorry, my lady." "It's not your fault." I took the silver brush gently out of her hands. "Leave the rest. I'll collect it myself." She nodded, relieved, and hurried away. I stood in my empty office, holding my mother's brush, listening to the sound of my own breathing. And then I heard footsteps behind me. "I hope you're not too upset." I turned. Isolde stood in the doorway, alone now. The tears were gone. Her face was calm, cool, almost pleasant. Her grey eyes traveled over the room like a woman admiring a new dress. "It's a lovely office," she said. "The light is perfect." "You've been here one day." "Yes." She smiled. "And already I have everything." I stared at her. The sweet voice was still there, but something sharp had slipped underneath it, like a blade under silk. "What do you want, Isolde?" "Oh, Wren." She stepped closer and lowered her voice. "You still think this is about what I want. It isn't. It's about what they want. And they want me." "They want a lie." "They want comfort." She tilted her head. "You were never going to win, you know. You were the second choice. You always were. I'm only here to remind them." My hand tightened around the brush. "You can hit me if you like," she added brightly. "Go ahead. I'll scream, and they'll come, and you will lose even more." I did not move. She smiled again, and reached out to straighten the collar of my dress, like a sister. "Be a good girl," she whispered, "and maybe I'll let you keep your room." Then she turned and walked out. I stood there, shaking, with a hundred things I wanted to say and nobody left to say them to. Sable, I said. Did you hear that? Every word. Will they believe me if I tell them? My wolf was silent for a long moment. No, she said at last. Not yet. I looked down at my mother's brush. Then I set it carefully inside my pocket, lifted my chin, and walked out of the office with my back straight. If they wanted to watch me break, I would not give them the show. But I did not know that the worst was still ahead. That by nightfall, Isolde would play her next card. And that this time, she would not stop at taking my seat. She would take my place in the one room I thought was still mine. I opened the door of our bedroom that evening, and froze. Isolde was sitting on my bed, wearing Kael's shirt. And Kael was standing right behind her.